Wallboard scoring device



March 23, 1965 F. w. ABRAHAM WALLBOARD SCORING DEVICE Filed May 9, 1965 Z 740 r al A T TOPNE V5 United States Patent 3,174,225 WALLBOARD SCORING DEVICE Frederick W. Abraham, Redwood City, Calif., assignor to Twinay, lnc., Redwood City, Calif., a corporation of California Filed May 9, 1963, Ser. No. 279,202 6 Claims. (Cl. 30-292) This invention relates to hand tools and more particularly to a device for scoring gypsum wallboard.

In most instances Where gypsum walboard is installed on a wall, it is necessary to cut strips from large sheets of wallboard in order to fit the board to the dimensions of a wall. Where the strip to be cut is fairly large, the strip may be cut relatively easily by scoring one side of the board with a knife and then breaking the board along the score line. When the strip is narrow, however, the board will often break irregularly unless it is scored along both sides, and the scoring of the board on both sides is a tedious job where it requires alignment of the two score lines with each other.

It is an object of this invention to provide a tool for scoring gypsum wallboard to facilitate cutting strips from large sheets of board.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a tool for scoring wallboard accurately on both sides so that the tool may be used for cutting very narrow strips.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a tool which may be adjusted very easily to cut wallboard strips of various widths.

It is an other object of the invention to provide such a tool which may be converted relatively easily to score wallboard of either of the two standard sizes, namely wallboards having thicknesses of one half and five-eights inches.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the attached drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a view inside elevation of a tool constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in end elevation of the tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan View of the tool of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a View similar to FIG. 2 but showing the tool adjusted for scoring wallboard of a different thickness.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and particularly to FIGS. 1-3, the tool illustrated therein has a base member 1% and a pair of legs 12 and 14 which are clamped in channels 16 and 18 in the base by means of a nut 26 screwed onto a bolt 22.

The shank of the bolt 22 passes through elongated slots 24 in the legs 12 and 14 permitting the legs 12 and 14 to be adjusted longitudinally of the channels 16 and 18 when the nut 20 is loosened, and the legs 12 and 14 are interconnected by a dowel 26 above the base It so that the two legs will move in unison when adjusted with respect to the base 10.

As can be best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, a pair of cutting rollers 28 and 30 are mounted in the free end of each of the legs 12 and 14. Each of the rollers carries a small axle 32 (FIG. 1) received in a bore in the leg with the axle and roller maintained in place by a cover plate 34 attached to the end of the leg by screws 36. The rollers 28 and 30 have peripheral cutting edges thereon with the cutting edges of the rollers 28 being positioned closer together than the edges on the rollers 30 so that the two pairs of rollers 30 and 28 will score the wallboard in two successive stages as the tool and board are moved with respect to each other in the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. 3.

As can be seen most clearly in FIGS. 1 and 2, the

3,174,225 Patented Mar. 23, 196 5 base member 10 has an elongated cam surface 38 thereon which extends between the legs 12 and 14 generally perpendicular thereto. The base 10 also has a pair of ears 40 thereon which define a lateral cam surface for engaging one face of a wallboard while the cam surface 38 engages the edge of the wallboard and guides the tool along the length of the board. v

As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4, the tool is provided with a spacer plate 42 which may be mounted in either of two alternative positions to adapt the tool for scoring wallboard of the two ditferent standard thicknesses. Thus, the spacer 42 is one-eighth of an inch in thickness and may be mounted under the nut 20 outside of the leg 12 (FIG. 2) when one-half inch board is to be scored, or it may be mounted in the channel 16 between the body 10 and leg 12 (FIG. 4) when five-eights inch board is to be scored. In this regard, it should be noted that the dowel 26 is rigidly attached to the leg 14 of the tool but is slidably received in an aperture 44 in the leg 12 as illustrated in FIG. 4 so that the dowel 26 prevents relative longitudinal movement of the legs but permits their movement away from each other when the spacer 42 is to be moved.

As indicated by the broken away portion shown in FIG. 1, the base member 10 is provided with a hollow core 46 therein which is closed by a removable plug 48 thereby providing a cavity in the tool in which small articles such as replacement rollers 28 and 30' may be stored.

While one specific embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described in detail herein, it is obvious that many modifications thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A device for scoring wallboard which comprises a base member having cam surface means thereon for engaging the edge of a piece of wallboard and guiding said base member therealong, a pair of arms mounted on said base member on opposite sides of said base member, cutter means on said arms providing scoring edges on said arms facing toward said plane, a clamping screw extending perpendicular to said arms and interconnecting both of said arms and said base member clamping said arms onto said base member, a pin interconnecting said arms on the side of said base member opposite to said cutter means for maintaining said cutter means aligned with each other with said pin extending parallel to said screw and being movable parallel to its length in at least one of said arms, and a spacer mounted on said screw in engagement with one of said arms with said spacer adapted to be mounted on either side of said arms for providing two alternative spacings between said arms.

2. The device of claim 1 characterized further in that said cutter means on said arms comprise a pair of cutter rollers mounted on each arm for rotation about axes generally parallel to said plane with one roller of each pair positioned opposite to a roller of the other pair and with said opposed rollers having generally aligned peripheral cutting edges thereon two of which are closer together than the other two.

3. A device for scoring wallboard which comprises a base member having elongated cam surface means thereon for engaging an elongated portion of the edge of a piece of wall board and guiding said base member therealong while preventing longitudinal tipping of said base member with respect to said wallboard edge, said base member having grooves in its opposite sides intermediate of the length of said cam surface with said grooves having bottom walls parallel to each other and perpendicular to said cam surface and side walls perpendicular to said cam surface, a pair of arms mounted on said base member on opposite sides of a longitudinal plane perpendicular "to said cam surface means with each of said arms slidably mounted in one of said grooves and with each arm having straight edges engaging said groove side walls and sides facing toward each other parallel to said groove bottom walls, cutter means on said armsproviding scoring edges, on said arms facing toward said plane, an elongated slot in each of said arms extending parallel to said straight edges of said arms, means connecting said arms on the side of said base member opposite to said cutter means, and a clamp screw extending through said, arm slots and said base member for releasably holding said arms toward said base member.

4. The device of claim 3 characterized further by the inclusion of second adjusting means for supporting said arms on said base member in two alternative positions with said arms spaced apart. by two different distances in a direction measured perpendicular to said plane, said second adjusting means consisting of a spacer plate held against one side of one of said arms by said clamp screw and movable to the other side of said one arm when said clamp screw is released.

5. The device of claim 3 characterized further in that said cutter means on said arms comprise a pair of cutter rollers mounted on each arm for rotation about axes generally parallel to said plane with one roller of each pair positioned opposite to a roller of the other pair and with said opposed rollers having generally aligned peripheral cutting edges thereon two of which are closer together than the other two.

6. A device for scoring wallboard which comprises:

(A) a base member having (1) longitudinal cam surface means thereon for engaging an elongated portion of the edge of a piece of wallboard and guiding said base member therealong while preventing longitudinal tipping of said base member with respect to said wallboard edge,

(2) lateral elongated cam surface means thereon for engaging one face of apiece of wallboard adjacent to said edge to maintain the edge of said board in engagement with said longitudinal cam surface, and

(3) a pair of opposed grooves in its opposite side intermediate of the length of said longitudinal cam surface with said grooves having 4 bottom walls parallel to each other and to the length of said longitudinal cam surface and perpendicular to said longitudinal cam surface and groove side walls, perpendicular to said '5 longitudinal cam surface,

(B) a pair of elongated arms with each arm (1) slidably mounted in one of said grooves,

(2) having straight edges engaging said groove side walls,

(3) sides facing toward each other parallel to said groove bottom walls, and

(4) a pair of laterally facing cutter rollers on one end thereof facing toward the other arm with one roller of the pair closer to the other arm than the other roller of the pair, and

(C) means mounting said arms on said body member with said cutter means thereon facing each other from opposite sides, of a longitudinal plane through said longitudinal cam surface, said means compris- (l) a pin connecting said arms on the opposite side of said base member from said cutter rollers with said pin extending perpendicular to said arms and movable along its length with respect to at least one of said arms,

(2) a releasable clamping screw parallel to said pin for clamping said arms in said grooves in a plurality of positions of adjustment longitudinally of said grooves, and

(3) movable spacer means engaging one side of one of said arms and movable, when said clamping .means is released to the other side of said one arm to change the distance between said arms measured perpendicular to said plane.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 45 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

MILTON S. MEI-IR, Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR SCORING WALLBOARD WHICH COMPRISES A BASE MEMBER HAVING CAM SURFACE MEANS THEREON FOR ENGAGING THE EDGE OF A PIECE OF WALLBOARD AND GUIDING SAID BASE MEMBER THEREALONG, A PAIR OF ARMS MOUNTED ON SAID BASE MEMBER ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BASE MEMBER, CUTTER MEANS ON SAID ARMS PROVIDING SCORING EDGES ON SAID ARMS FACING TOWARD SAID PLANE, A CLAMPING SCREW EXTENDING PERPENDICULAR TO SAID ARMS AND INTERCONNECTING BOTH OF SAID ARMS AND SAID BASE MEMBER CLAMPING SAID ARMS ONTO SAID BASE MEMBER, A PIN INTERCONNECTING SAID ARMS ON THE SIDE OF SAID BASE MEMBER OPPOSITE TO SAID CUTTER MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID CUTTER MEANS ALIGNED WITH EACH OTHER WITH SAID PIN EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID SCREW AND BEING MOVABLE PARALLEL TO ITS LENGTH IN AT LEAST ONE OF SAID ARMS, AND A SPACER MEANS WITH SAID SCREW IN ENGAGEMENT WITH ONE OF SAID ARMS WITH SAID SPACER ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID ARMS FOR PROVIDING TWO ALTERNATIVE SPACINGS BETWEEN SAID ARMS. 